A New World
by BettyBotter08
Summary: SEQUEL STORY It has been two years of peace since Cana and Bacchus journeyed to Yi Kai. They have grown together in a way they weren't sure could happen. But now a new era is upon them as they take their next steps into creating something new together: A new world. Sequel to The World and Recovery
1. Chapter 1

**A New World**

 **Prologue**

The steady pace of the waltz was hypnotic as they swayed together. He had not known that Cana could dance so gracefully and was truly surprised by how easily she moved with him. She seemed to be as equally amazed by him when he first took her hand to lead her onto the dance floor. It was strange for him to think too deeply about this shared moment between them. The both of them were out of their usual element, transcending and transforming together in a way that perhaps most would never even bat an eye at. No, on the outside, this was what many around them may have perceived as peculiar, but nothing more. Yet to him, it was as if the two of them were the only ones in the capitol's vast Grand Ballroom. As the dance went on around them, as they whirled and swayed to the music in obliviousness, that the answer came to him. It was in that very moment he knew the answer to a question he had been pondering for months. And there was nothing that could convince him otherwise.

When he pulled back from her slightly so as to garner her attention he noticed the content and dreamy look in her eyes. He'd have to remember to dance with her more often.

"You're not too bad." He grinned softly, watching the way her eyes narrowed. Despite the feigned annoyance seeping into her deep brown eyes, there was a hinted smirk on her lips that suggested her true amusement.

"You're not too bad yourself." She countered. Bacchus laughed as he spun her, relishing in the high and gleeful giggle she expelled from the unexpected twirl. The bouncing curls and waves of her hair were wild about her face when she returned to his hold, her cheeks pink from joy and a bright smile on her lips. He wanted to preserve that image for the rest of his life.

"Cana." He whispered, taking in every one of her features as she looked up at him.

"Hmm?" She hummed in response. A blissful sparkle glinted in the depths of her eyes while the beam of her smile had settled into something more relaxed.

"You look so beautiful tonight." His words were soft and sincere which had appeared to baffle her temporarily. But it was a fleeting expression as her lips quickly perked into a more cunning smirk and she half-heartedly accused him of having a few too many drinks, earning a shared chuckle.

The dance went on, the music changing, but they hardly paid attention and continued with their own rhythm. He gazed down at her again, a warm feeling in his chest as he glanced down at the locket he'd given her two years ago sitting so delicately on her chest.

"Do you know what I miss most about Yi Kai?" He asked, meeting her eyes and watching, feeling, the slightly uncomfortable way her pace and posture shifted in his hold.

"What?" She was hesitant, he could see, but his smile reassured her.

"How you used to squirm in my arms and the irritated looks you'd give me when I'd kiss you. You didn't much like being my wife did you?" He taunted playfully, leaning his face in towards hers.

"Tch. Some husband you were." Relief softened her temporary rigidness as she playfully squirmed in his arms then, rejecting the kiss he attempted to give her. "Besides, you were too touchy. You're still too touchy." She teased back just before he spun her again.

"And now look at us." Bacchus continued when she returned to him once more.

"Dancing at a ball, you wearing a shirt and pants that cover your ankles and me in this ridiculous dress." She replied. He barked a laugh at that, enjoying her wit.

"Ridiculous or not, it suits you. I've always said that you should wear dresses more often."

"You've also said I look better UN-dressed, too."

He laughed loudly at that, twirling with her.

"You know," Slowly, he eased their dance to a halt. "We could try it again."

"Try what again?" Her confusion made him snigger. It may have been the way he glanced about the room in that brief instant that tipped her off. Or perhaps she was as keen to the environment around her as she boasted to be and could finally sense something about him beneath the jubilant energy of the ball.

"What are you up to Bacchus Groh?" Her eyes flickered with suspicion as she noticed the rest of the dance floor coming to a curious halt then.

"Cana," He kissed her lips softly, shocking her. "I want you to be my wife again." He whispered against her lips. "Marry me."

Her cheek cupped in his palm, he pulled back to look at her stunned face, waiting for her response. It took a moment for her stupor to wear off, but suddenly her eyes welled with tears and a tittering laugh escaped her lips. A brief feeling of doubt prickled inside of him until she abruptly pulled his face to hers, kissing him in return. Hoarsely she whispered "yes" again and again until he squeezed her to his body.

An eruption of cheers echoed and drew them back to the reality around them. As their foreheads touched, they whispered their love for one another before pulling apart to present themselves victoriously before their peers and rousing an even louder cry, their own voices joining. It went on to be a glorious night of drinks, rowdy brawls and joyful noise loud enough to carry into the heavens.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I know I said that I would start up again on July 1st, but I just couldn't resist a little teaser chapter for you guys.**

 **I am currently still debating if I want to release the rest of this on the aforementioned promised date or if I will do it sooner.**

 **My schedule for releases can be found on my profile.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this little update.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Betty B.**


	2. Location, Location, Location

**Chapter One**

 **Location, Location, Location**

They'd been engaged for over a week before the subject struck them. Though in truth that had mostly been due to a seemingly endless amount of parties and celebrations they'd had since the ball at end of the Grand Magic Games. The celebration continued at each of their guilds, and then at their favorite bars in both Magnolia and Clover and a few other small places in between.

Now able to focus more on the subject, Cana was realizing just how big the problem was. Both of them had been under the impression that the other was going to move to their own respective town. Worse, neither of them seemed to want to budge on their position and thus sparking a sensitive nerve they'd never cared to talk about before. It wasn't that she had wanted him to give up his career as a mage, but the more they discussed it, the more it made sense for them to go with her proposition of him moving to Magnolia.

"You're on the road more than you're home anyway. I don't see why it would be such a big deal." She said, rolling onto her side.

"It takes almost half the day to get there by train and another half to get back. It doesn't make sense for me to have to travel that far to not have any work available." Bacchus complained half-heartedly. He had one eye closed and looked bored, which only served to further Cana's irritation.

"Then have Goldmine send the requests to you here or have Rocker or one of your goons contact you through the lacrima when an S-Class request comes in."

"That's not their responsibility." He frowned at her and began untying the gourd at his side with one hand.

"Then what are we going to do? Not live together?" Cana frowned right back at him; her eyes trained on his every movement.

"Tch." The palm mage looked away rudely as he plucked the cork stopper from the mouth of his gourd. Cana watched him through her lacrima, seeing the annoyance spread across his face as he took a long drink from his container.

"Take it easy there tiger." She warned when she saw how deep of a drink he had taken.

"Yeah, yeah." Bacchus waved indifferently and pressed the cork back into the opening.

"How much longer until you get to your destination?" She asked him after he secured his drink.

"Less than a day if the weather is fair, but the job itself should be a walk in the park."

Cana rolled her eyes at the comment, knowing he was making a poor attempt at showing off for her. Yet even as he continued on with his unnecessary boasting, she couldn't help but smile some. It was getting closer to the three-year mark since their fated encounter and journey across the south sea, yet there was no denying how much he still tried to impress her. When it wasn't annoying, she found it rather flattering.

Eventually, their conversation had drawn back to their living arrangements. The strain it caused between them was like a fresh a black bruise, leaving either of them with a dull ache whenever it was pressed on. They would talking in circles, going absolutely no where until one of them just stopped talking. Whether it was out of irritation or just exhaustion from the redundant debate neither of them could say.

"It's late." Cana said after they were both silent a moment. "We'll talk more when you get back from your trip. Get some rest." She sighed with a small grimace, giving the sign that she was too tired to continue on with the same mundane discussion again.

"You too." His tone mimicked hers, indicating that he was grateful for the dropped subject.

"Be careful." She added in before he could tap his lacrima to end their communication line. Their eyes locked and said the unspoken words they meant:

 _You'd better come home. I love you._

"I will." He said softly, answering both her voiced and unspoken concern before cutting off his end of the communication spell.

The glow from her orb faded, diming her room. It wasn't unlike how she felt more often than not since Bacchus' proposal. Something good and bright was happening in her life and yet, the world she carried in her hands seemed to have dimmed. Perhaps it was the thought that such a life-changing event was appearing upon the horizon and she was feeling that she had less and less control over how quickly it was happening. Perhaps it was a fear that her marriage was already doomed before it began and that she would share the same fate as her mother. The thought made her shiver and push away the insecurity for the time being.

She'd confided in Lucy and Levy about her and Bacchus' inability to come to a decision during lunch the day after her last conversation with him. However, it became obvious how it was difficult for them to give her any useful advice since they had both married men from within the guild and didn't have to face such issues themselves.

"Why don't you travel with him then? Work as a team?" Lucy asked between bites of her rather over-packed sandwich. But Cana waved her off explaining that it would be more trouble than it was worth to file for an inter-guild partnership.

"Besides, that doesn't solve our living situation." She picked absently at her own plate, no longer interested in eating the poorly made attempt at a traditional Yikani stir-fry.

"Why not somewhere in between here and Clover?" Levy joined in after she once again had gotten her lively son Leif to settle down beside her. The boy with the coarse mop of black hair and eerie ruby colored eyes had a habit of reaching into her purse and rummaging around for anything he could get his hands on. He had gotten big too, bigger than a two-year-old should be, but it came as no surprise considering whom his father was. Cana pitied the petite woman, as it was likely that her next child would be the same considering how much her stomach had already grown again at such an early stage in comparison to Lucy's own pregnant belly. Cana had noticed a small trend between the two dragon slayer wives and the correlation of their pregnancies. It was a curious thought, but she brushed aside any assumptions.

"We considered it, but my since my work is usually done at the guild or in town it would make it inconvenient for my clients to have to travel to see me rather than me traveling to them. He also still complained that he'd have to travel too far to check for work in Clover."

"You're also the one with the house, too." Lucy added while subtly pointing with her spoon at Leif, who had somehow gotten ahold of his mother's lightpen this time and was drawing scribbles in the air with it.

"Leif, give that back." Levy gently scolded with her hand held out waiting for him to relinquish the magic item. "That doesn't mean she can't buy one in Clover. Stop playing with your food. Perhaps you could build a new clientele over there?"

"What, and join Quatro Puppy while I'm at it, too?" Cana snorted. Her friends chuckled lightly in response.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out. What do your cards say?" Lucy gave her a curious look.

Cana could only sigh as she told them of the strange readings she had been interpreting for herself. The cards would waiver and more often than not, and were clouded with uncertainties. Whenever she'd ask what she ought to do, they would indicate that she feared change too greatly to make any rational decisions. Yet the next reading would tell her of the prosperity of change, should she take the chance to do so. It perplexed all of them, and continued to confuse her as she went home after their meal.

Two more days had passed before Bacchus returned from his mission. He was scrounging through her kitchen half naked and fresh from a shower when she had come back from her visit to the guild that evening. He had already stopped at his own guild to report that he had completed the job and had no other requests to take, leaving him available to be with her for the next few days.

"I thought inter-guild partnerships were only good for a single mission." He furrowed his brow at her and sat up some to reach for the water he had on the nightstand. He didn't seem pleased that she brought up _that subject_ so soon after he'd returned let alone after sex.

"Levy informed me that there is a long-term contract that married couples are allowed to apply for." Cana watched as he turned his legs to hang over the edge of the bed.

"That still doesn't solve our living situation much." He said, echoing her earlier statement to Levy. He stood and took a few steps toward the attached bathroom. "Unless you are wanting to travel together as nomads until we're old and gray like your father." Something amused him about that, a sly look spreading across his face as his eyes glanced over her.

"Tch." She pulled the sheet up to her chest to cover herself.

After he relieved himself and they settled back in bed, they lay in silence, both contemplating some sort of solution.

"We could move to a new guild." She curled up next to him, her head resting on his chest as she toyed with a silken lock of his hair.

"Or join the army." He replied with playful sarcasm. "Though I hear they discourage any type of fraternizations between members."

Her thoughts immediately went to Gajeel and Levy and their short time spent as government officers. _Gajeel's underlings were likely too afraid to report him for anything._ Cana snorted lightly as images of likely scenarios played in her mind.

"They also have strict alcohol consumption regulations." She added. The two of them huffed a quick laugh at that and finally settled into a peaceful quiet. They were too busy enjoying each other's touch and the soft, cool breeze blowing in from the balcony window to argue further. She'd been thankful for that and simply sighed, letting her body relax against Bacchus'.

"We'll figure this out." He said after a moment and kissed her forehead while squeezing her into his chest. She'd begun to drift off already and agreed softly before succumbing to sleep's call.

 _I hope so._


	3. A Past Foretold

**Chapter Two**

 **A Past Foretold**

He had come to know about Cana's own troubled past over the past couple of years of being in a relationship with her. It was difficult for him to trust Gildarts after she had confessed how he had willingly let his wife leave him so that he could travel as he pleased. Though in truth, it was perhaps because he couldn't accept the similarities between himself and her father in that notion that he disliked him.

Her only reassurance to him had been the fact that when she finally told Gildarts of her blood relationship to him that he had made a clear effort to strengthen their father-daughter bond. She also said he had been almost overbearing with affection and they had indeed grown closer. He fondly recalled the first time he had met the man and agreed, rubbing at his chest where he had taken a bone crushing knee drop. It still left him with a sour taste in his mouth, however, though he learned to tolerate Gildarts' presence and decided that since the man was away more oft than not, it wasn't something he would concern himself with much.

But this fight was not about him. No, this was the darker side to the story. The one she would only speak of on rare occasion or when she drank more than enough. It was a deep-seeded insecurity that had taken several previous fights, like the one they were having now, to get her to finally confide in him about.

"I don't understand why this is such a big deal."

"You just asked me to call off our engagement. That's no small matter, Cana." He watched her intensely from his seat at the table as she paced back and forth across the kitchen floor.

"Look," She spun on her heel to stare at him. "You and I are both unwilling to leave our towns or join a different guild together. I was merely suggesting that we not change anything at all and simply just keep what we currently have going. It has worked for us so far, why not just do as we've been doing?"

The argument between them had gone on for a month now and what had started as a tender bruise on their relationship had manifested into an open painful sore that typically ended with one of them sleeping on the couch or leaving on the midnight train back to their town.

There was no denying that they had both stood firm in their positions of why it would be easier for one of them to move to the other's town and it had been no secret that Cana despised the notion of joining another guild, but the notion of remaining stagnant was even less appealing.

"So you would rather not live together?" He echoed her statement from a previous fight at her in hopes it would put a crack her new argument.

"Do you have any other solutions?" There was desperation deep within her voice that he could feel. He knew why she was suggesting what she was. He knew that beneath the façade of irritation, insults and constant scowl, Cana was afraid. She would never admit to it, but over their time together, he had come to know her well enough to understand the difference between when she was truly irritated and when she fought with him out of fear and insecurity.

"I don't." He confessed through gritted teeth. A hand reached up to massage his temple where he felt a headache coming on.

"This doesn't mean that I want to end our relationship." She said while leaning back against the counter beside her sink. "But if we're both so unwilling to change our lifestyles, why change?"

"So you want to call off our engagement because we can't figure out where to live?" Bacchus scowled at her and reached for his drink, finishing it s contents in a single swig.

"Unlike you I'm trying to make this easier for us!" She suddenly screamed at him. Unable to stifle his frustration any further, he slammed his cup on the table, startling her. The glass had cracked in his grip, but did not splinter.

"You're **not** making it easier." His voice strained to remain even. "You're only trying to choose the easiest way for you."

"For me?" Her tone had calmed before exploding once again. "This isn't just about me, Bacchus! You haven't come up with any great ideas and just go gallivanting off on jobs while I'm left here to figure all of this out on my own."

In an impulsive flash, he stood and reached out to grab her by the shoulders. He glared down at her stubborn brown depths, his temper rising all the more.

"Tell me why you really want this." He tensed his grip onto her arms and had to resist shaking her. "Look me in the eye and tell me why."

"It's better this way." Her lip trembled yet she kept her watering gaze fixed defiantly on him.

"You going to have to give me a better reason than that." He demanded of her. When she said nothing, he released her with a push, his fists still shaking. "Answer me."

"Because." A small pair of tears fell from her eyes as she struggled to find strength for her words and voice. "Because I don't think I can do what she did."

"What who did?" When she glanced away from him, he understood. "Your mother? Is that what all of this has been about?"

"He would leave her for months at a time, leaving her alone in an empty house. Alone in a town she did not know. She left her home to be with him and left her new one when she realized that he would never change. She told me it was one of the only things she ever regretted in her life. She hated him for it."

"Is that what you think I'll do to you?" He asked her in an outraged whisper, shortening the distance between them once again. "Do you truly think I would do that to you?"

She did not answer him. She did not move. As he stood there staring down at her, the insult and hurt grew, building into a mixture of self-loathing and frustration and rage. There, in the void inside his chest, he could feel it all. He wanted to hate Cana for her insecurities that made her so afraid of their relationship. He wanted to hate her father for what he had done to her and her mother. Most of all, he hated himself for being like him.

"I need to clear my head." Bacchus finally said after a moment of attempting to recompose himself.

"Where are you going?" She asked meekly as he turned to leave the kitchen. There was little strength in her nearly inaudible voice though she remained in place and her eyes fixed straight ahead.

"Out." Was all he said as he exited.

The door shut behind him gently as he left, though he had to struggle with himself to not slam it. He wasn't leaving for good. He just needed to think. He needed to breathe.

Well over an hour had passed when his temper and the little amount of alcohol in his system had finally subsided, gradually being taken over by a pained dull ache in his head. He thought of Cana and every irrational thought he could make that would jeopardize their relationship further. As he slowed his pace and calmed, he was able to ignore the reckless desires and reasoned with himself that those were the last things he needed. Feeling he had cooled down enough, he figured he should to at least begin thinking of alternatives for the two of them, as he knew he couldn't return to her without at least some sort of possible resolution.

Though, the more he tried to ponder out ideas, the more her solution was beginning to look like the only possibility. In truth, he had not completely been opposed to her proposition, but the idea of starting a new life with her yet not making any changes to their lifestyles also seemed to make little sense. He wanted to be closer to her, progress their relationship, and begin a new life together. That's why he'd asked her to marry him in the first place. But perhaps despite them wanting to take it to this next step they simply weren't ready for it.

He could acknowledge that he was being as equally stubborn about leaving his guild and the more the thought on it, the more it started to make sense for him to move in with her. His pride defeated and anger from earlier completely diminished, he supposed it was time he ought to head back and try to reason with her with a clearer head.

When he looked up from the cobbled streets, the realization that he didn't know where he was dawned on him. He had gone in no particular direction when he had stormed out and before he had noticed, he was walking down a street he wasn't familiar with. It was a part of town he had not noticed before. But, in all fairness there was much of Magnolia that he had not concerned himself with before. He eventually followed down a street he thought would lead him back to somewhere familiar only to find the edge of town instead. With a frown, he stopped to look out beyond the end of the cobbled road and was met by a small trail that had become covered by tall grasses. Too intrigued not to explore it, he followed down the overgrown path.

A small range of hills came up ahead, the trail seemingly leading over them. Curious and glad for the distraction, he continued up the hill when something below on the other side caught his attention: An old building.

It didn't appear like much, the walls were hardly standing, the roof completely gone and the wilderness around it was taking it over like a sort of massive hand reaching up from the ground, grasping it as if to pull it down into the land. It had been a dorm or living complex of sorts perhaps.

Bacchus traced with his eyes the rest of what could have been the path down to it and decided to remain where he stood, taking in the sight of the decrepit structure.

Something tingled his spine suddenly, like a finger trailing down it, making him shudder. There had been no wind or breeze that swept past him nor any reason why his covered back should have been prickled so. Suspiciously he turned to check around him, but was only faced with the dark, starry sky and the dim lights of the town behind him.

"Cana?" He called as his eyes scanned the area. He could sense her energy, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. He paused a moment to see if she would appear or answer. When she did not, he returned his attention to the site below him. He knew what she had done and that she would likely be joining him shortly.

As he returned his attention to the ruin below, he saw another in its place. The lumber was splintered, the stone crumbled into chunks of rubble and debris covered everything else. Save for the glimmering pool of blood off to some far reach that he turned his attention from. Bacchus' head pounded with a flash of blinding white pain as the flashback of his destroyed home disappeared. Despite the vision, he did not look away from it after his head cleared. Instead, another started to form before him.

"Interesting." He said to himself and sat on a large nearby rock, watching something unfold in his mind. An idea had started to click in his head for a while and before long he heard her walking through the long rustling grass up to him.


	4. Solution

**Chapter Three**

 **Solution**

It wasn't often she'd have to use her location spell to find him. Not since he'd stop drinking as much and wasn't passing out in alley ways after senseless brawls or walking out on her in the middle of the night, but it had been hours since he left for his "walk" and despite herself, she was worried.

For the most part, he was a typically predictable man. If he weren't with her, he would be at one of three of their favorite bars waiting for her to find him. If he wasn't there he simply wasn't in town. But he had not been at any of their usual haunts nor any other taverns, inns or bars near by or even at the guildhall. It was too late to take the train westward and it wasn't likely he'd walk back to Clover without any provisions or his knapsack, leaving her without any idea of where he might have gone. Her blood pounded in her ears as she walked up and down the streets looking for him. All of the nearby alleys were empty, there wasn't a commotion anywhere to be heard if he had gotten into a brawl, nor was there any sign he had gone back to her house when she returned to it.

An anxiety had been beginning to seep in as she shook the thoughts of him going elsewhere with someone else attempted the cloud her with more unease. Quickly she ascended to her room and pulled the book from her shelf, flipping it open to a specific page. She gingerly removed her locket, clutching it in her hand. The fear that her astral projection would find him atop another woman or worse gave her pause. With a shaking breath, she began reciting the words to the spell, hoping that her fears would remain senseless and untrue.

The vision in her eyes gave way to the street outside as she felt herself leave the heaviness of her own body. Her spirit twisting and turning down the paths, she scoured the area below her, following where the dim light of the locket led her until reaching the end of town and going beyond to the western plain and toward the hills. It was there that she spied his figure walking up an old trail and standing on top of the hill. When he seemed to notice something, he stopped and turned but could not seem to pinpoint where she was.

"Cana?" He called her name.

Unable to answer him, she inhaled and returned to her body in her room, her cloudy sight gradually returning to normal. Once able to see again, she inhaled deeply with relief. She was surprised that she had been able to shed any more tears and quickly wiped them away. After a short time of torturing and berating herself for thinking for even a moment that Bacchus would betray her, she reached for her bag, slinging it over her shoulder and headed out to him.

She found him sitting on a large stone poised at the top of the hill she had seen earlier, looking down at something she could not see from the other side. As she drew closer, a building far from anything inhabitable came into view. The walls had been cracked and were crumbling, windows were shattered and the lumber and brick broken into shambles.

He had yet to say a single word to her even as she sat on the grass beside him. His eyes were too focused on the building, shifting every now and again with a curious twitch of his eyebrow. They sat that way for a few minutes before he finally moved.

Silently he stood and walked down the hill, his pace steady. Not wanting to be left behind, she followed, waiting for him to speak. It was obvious that he had calmed from their earlier fight and he would talk when he was ready to. If he had not wanted her company, he'd have let her known.

She watched as he observed and surveyed around the perimeter, his lips going from a thin hard line to a half-curled frown. He gave her an occasional glance as if to make certain she was by his side, though his expression remained unreadable.

After a few minutes of this, he placed his hands on his hips and let an ambitious looking smile creep onto his face.

"Its settled then. This is the answer." He finally said.

"What is?" Despite whether his words had been directed at her or not, she responded.

"I'm going to move here to Magnolia." He turned to face her, his gleaming red eyes aflame. Dumbfounded Cana could only stare at him with her jaw slacked. _He said it so easily._

"Wait, Bacchus. You don't-"

"You wanted an answer. Let me explain." He put up his hand to silence her. When she tightened her lips, he lowered his arm and continued. "I'm going to open up a martial arts school."

"A school? Here in Magnolia?" Her eyes narrowed in confusion when he nodded and turned to look back at the building.

"It will take time getting everything ready." He stepped close to her, his gaze still fixed on the ruin behind her. "So until it is, I'll stay here during the week working on it, if I'm not out on a job that is, and stay in Clover during the weekends, gradually transferring my things here." He was within arm's reach of her then and looking at her. "I'm not going to leave my guild, but I think it is time I stayed local a little more often." There was something calm about the way he smiled with an indefinable excitement in his eyes.

It was an answer, she had to admit, but the prospect of it was worrisome. This wasn't going to be an easy path and a portion of her felt guilty that he was apparently choosing to come to her. Although he wasn't giving up his career as a guild mage, she knew that this would mean less of him getting to do something he enjoyed doing. It bothered her, but the ambition in his voice and the determination in his face were hard to ignore. _If this is what he wants..._ She told herself before taking a slow and deep inhale. He seemed on edge, waiting for her to respond to him. It may not have been what she had in mind, but perhaps this was indeed the answer they had been looking for.

"A martial arts school, hm?" Cana moved away from him, passing her hand over the edge of the rough remains of what had been a wall. "Good luck with that." With a light snicker, the brunette card reader crossed her arms and leaned against the crumbled pillar beside her.

"Something you don't like about my proposal?" Bacchus tilted his head inquisitively, watching her.

"Not at all." Her shoulders gave a quick shrug as she looked around.

"Then why are you wishing me good luck?" He took a step toward her, sensing her playful teasing.

"Because with your kind of attitude, you'd be lucky to keep a single student for more than a week." A giggle rose from her lips when he grabbed her and drew her in close to him.

"Wanna bet?" There was something feral about the way her grinned down at her. It was an aspiring hope mixed with mischief like she had not seen from in him in what seemed like a long time.

"You're on." A leaping joy fluttered in Cana's stomach and chest as she winked at her fiancé. She kissed him, letting him press her to the wall and sighed into his lips. Behind her, her hand smoothed over the textured exterior and a sense of peace flowed from it. It was their solution, their answer, their new world.


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A steady drip fell from the crack in the gutter above him, splashing rhythmically onto his forehead several times before he could ignore it no longer. Sleepily he rubbed at his face, unknowingly smearing grime and dirt across it. A painful ache in his leg kept him from standing up right away. He could see the budding bruises from where the local boys had kicked him and the scrape from when he had tripped and slid on his shin over the cobbled stones of the street. In truth the wound had looked worse than it felt, but not by much.

It was much the same wherever he went. No one liked a beggar boy. And no matter where he went, it always seemed to prompt all of the kids into to banding together and personally seeing to his short welcome.

There had been maybe two towns where he had run into little trouble and only one where he had been able to escape any. That was the town where the odd-looking man had rewarded him for his crime rather than punish him. He had wanted to follow the man's instructions, but instead he spent all of the money, save for enough jewel for a train ticket, on junk food and guilty pleasures before wandering on.

Slowly, he pulled out his only other shirt from his knapsack, tearing the fraying remnants off into crooked strips and used them to bandage his leg. He struggled to hold back the tears and winced when the fabric squeezed down on the tender flesh. When he was finished and certain that the pieces would stay in position, he checked the small pouch of money he had tucked away in a secret pocket that had been poorly sewn into his knapsack and smiled at the familiar bulge. He stood and tentatively took his first few steps out of the alley he had been hiding in. It was dark and had clearly been hours since he fell asleep waiting for the danger to pass and thus hopefully making it safer for him to continue his trip back to Clover.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey everyone, thanks for joining in! I truly hope you liked this new story!**

 **I know I said I wouldn't kick off with the new adventures until July 1st, but after reviewing my schedule for next week I wasn't certain if I would have been able to post on time if I didn't post it now.**

 **Besides, this was already complete and I felt confident enough to post it.**

 **I will say that these next few will be more light-hearted than The World, but there is another epic that I've been working on to complete the series, so hopefully this didn't seem too out of character for you all.**

 **Again, hope you enjoyed it and here's to seeing you all again in two weeks with the next one!**

 **Until then!**

 **Betty B.**


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